Love

O Hari, if you will insist on touching me

by Vidyapati c. 1352-1448

Translated by Ananda Coomaraswamy and Arun Sen (1915) · From Bangiya Padabali (trans. 1915)

Love

Rādhā:
O Hari, if you will insist on touching me,
The sin of murdering a wife will fall on you:
You are a guileful lover full of passion
I know not whether it be sweet or bitter.

When passion is outpoured, I shiver
Like an arrow-smitten bounding antelope:
O do not realise your hopes before the time,--
Savour is never lacking to the wise man's end.

Vidyāpati says: I see it clear,
That honeyed fruit is never green.

✦ ✦ ✦

First Meetings, XLVIII

MLA

Vidyapati. “O Hari, if you will insist on touching me.” Translated by Ananda Coomaraswamy and Arun Sen. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/vidyapati/47/.

Chicago

Vidyapati. “O Hari, if you will insist on touching me.” Translated by Ananda Coomaraswamy and Arun Sen. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/vidyapati/47/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

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